A recent patient was experiencing a significant amount of neck stiffness. They were unable to turn their head very far in either direction. We checked them and it was determined that they did not need an upper cervical correction at that time. We checked this patient multiple times over the next week and a half each time with no indication of them being in need of a correction. Finally just before 2 weeks the tests indicated that indeed a correction was needed. The correction was administered and the patient experienced immediate improvement. You might ask why not make the correction in the first place so that they did not need to go through all that discomfort for over a week? Read the story below and it may help to explain.
"A young man was attending a university, studying to become a naturalist. One lovely spring day during his first year, when he was really feeling burned out by studying, he decided to take a break and go for a stroll in the nearby woods. As he walked through the woods with warm sunlight streaming through the fresh green leaves, he saw a twig with a cocoon attached to it that was literally vibrating with life. He observed the cocoon for a few minutes, pondering the life and struggle taking place inside of it. Then, partly out of curiosity, partly out of misguided sympathy, the young man pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket. Then, he carefully so as not to hurt the creature inside slit the cocoon from one end to the other and stepped back to see what would happen. In a few moments there emerged the crumpled wings of a beautiful monarch butterfly. The butterfly tried to fly, but it fluttered and fell to the ground. The butterfly tried to fly once more and once more it fell to the ground. Then it became very still, and the young man saw that much to his horror the beautiful butterfly was dead. Later, when it was too late, he learned that it is the struggle inside the cocoon that builds strength in the wings and body of the creature inside so that at the appropriate time it can emerge on its own and survive as an adult in the world."
So while I am not suggesting that making an upper cervical correction sooner would have killed this patient what I am saying is that sometimes something that seems like a struggle on the surface may be something that needs to happen and in fact some good may come from the struggle. This patient was struggling without a doubt but anytime you are working with the human body, which is intelligent and self healing, we have to ask ourselves why something is happening. Something that seems like a problem could in fact be there temporarily because it needs to be in order to fix something. We know a great deal about the human body but very little when compared to what could be known. Because of that it is very difficult to determine if what is happening is needed or not. With this patient the neck could have been locked up because the body was making some very much needed changes and improvements and needed the joints to limit their motion for a period of time to accomplish it. Since we don't know why the body did it in the first place it is best to have specific tests to indicate when there is true nerve interference and make an upper cervical correction only when indicated. This way the patient gets the upper cervical care they need when they need it and the body is given the respect it deserves for healing and repairing itself by whatever means it deems appropriate.
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